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Add a full keyboard shortcut system and a shortcuts cheatsheet to the web chat

Category: Chat / Web app

Description:

The web chat currently only documents two shortcuts: Enter to submit and Cmd/Ctrl+Enter to submit. Everything else — starting a new chat, switching models, toggling the sidebar, stopping a generation, copying a response, opening settings — requires the mouse. For anyone who uses Venice as a daily driver (especially with long prompts and multi-model workflows), this is the biggest remaining friction in the UI.

Proposed shortcuts (macOS uses Cmd, Windows/Linux uses Ctrl):

Action

Shortcut

Command palette (search chats, models, settings, actions)

Cmd/Ctrl + K

New chat

Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + O

Toggle sidebar

Cmd/Ctrl + B

Focus the prompt input

/ (when not already typing) or Cmd/Ctrl + J

Model picker

Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + M

Stop / cancel current generation

Esc

Regenerate last response

Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + R

Edit last user message

Up arrow in empty input

Copy last response as markdown

Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + C

Toggle temporary/incognito chat

Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + N

Show shortcuts cheatsheet

? or Cmd/Ctrl + /

Previous / next chat in history

Alt + Up / Alt + Down

Attach file

Cmd/Ctrl + U

Implementation notes:

  • Keep Enter = submit and Shift+Enter = newline as they are; do not break muscle memory.

  • Shortcuts should be disabled while the user is typing in a text field, except for the explicit submit/stop ones.

  • Ideally expose a small "Keyboard shortcuts" entry in Settings that lists them and allows rebinding later.

  • A ? overlay is a cheap first step and makes the feature discoverable without a docs page.

Why it matters: power users, developers, and anyone on a laptop without a mouse. It also makes the web app feel consistent with other AI chat tools that already ship these.

Alternatives considered: browser-level shortcuts and bookmarklets, but they cannot reach internal app actions like model switching or sidebar state.

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